<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Cupid's Chokehold by Fightlikeanalpha (PlanetMarzz)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23994631">Cupid's Chokehold</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetMarzz/pseuds/Fightlikeanalpha'>Fightlikeanalpha (PlanetMarzz)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cherubim, Cupid - Freeform, M/M, Magic, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Werewolves, child abuse mention, death mention, love spells, most characters other than stiles and isaac are mentioned and not prominant, post 3-b</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:13:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,150</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23994631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetMarzz/pseuds/Fightlikeanalpha</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Isaac is pretty sure soulmates don't exist. Stiles is pretty sure that, if soulmates are real, his wants nothing to do with him. When Isaac pisses off a cherubim while stranded in Paris, the two of them are forced together for the first time in months. Told they are soulmates and won't be allowed to leave until they experience "true love", Isaac and Stiles must get through trials set by the cupid meant to test their bond, all the while forcing them to sort out their issues.</p><p>co-authored by Amber on Teen Wolf amino! Check her out here!</p><p>http://aminoapps.com/p/sgy7px</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Isaac Lahey/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cupid's Chokehold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>co-authored by Amber on Teen Wolf amino! Check her out here!</p><p>http://aminoapps.com/p/sgy7px</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Isaac has never believed in soulmates. The whole entire concept of them was completely and utterly absurd. Another half of you placed somewhere upon the earth, destined for you to find and fall in love with...It was bullshit.</p><p>There may have been a time when Isaac had considered if soulmates did exist. A few times, even. Watching his mother and father together before she passed, the time he spent with Allison before she died...it was enough for him to wonder, vaguely, if those tales were true. That he really had another half out there waiting for him, someone who would love him despite all of his flaws.</p><p>Everytime, he was proven that he was wrong.</p><p>After Allison, Isaac was truly beginning to wonder if love even existed at all. Love was supposed to be a feeling of joy, a feeling of warmth and caring that would be with you always. Yet every time 'love' came around, Isaac's heart was left broken and worn. Eventually he decided it was probably best for him to give up on love once and for all.</p><p>It was ironic, really, that that conclusion led him to Paris. The city of love. At the time, following Chris away from Beacon Hills had felt like the only option for him. After all, running away had become sort of his trademark. Away from his dad, away from Derek...away from his friends in the time they arguably needed him the most.</p><p>Despite that, Isaac had to admit that some time away was definitely what he had needed. A chance for him to clear his thoughts, a break from all the stress that living in Beacon Hills came with. It was hard at times, of course. Chris had his days where he struggled, and Isaac had his days where he could see nothing but Allison in Chris's face. They always worked through it, though. Together. </p><p>Until, one day, they didn't. </p><p>Chris had gotten a text message. Nothing too out of the ordinary- Isaac got text messages all the time. Namely from Scott, all left on read, or the occasional check-in from Melissa that he would reply to purely out of gratefulness for her kindness when he stayed with her. It was never enough for him to let it linger in his mind.</p><p>This text was different, though.  The days following it left Chris distant and irritable, always on his phone or locked away in his room of the apartment they had rented. Isaac had tried to talk to him, practically begging for him to let him know what was wrong, but Chris always declined. It wasn't until one night that Isaac found Chris in the living area of the apartment with a briefcase in hand that he knew.</p><p> Chris asked him to go with him. Practically pleaded with him when he explained that he had to go home. Yet Isaac couldn't- betrayal, hurt, and most of all fear left him frozen in place, Chris's words falling upon deaf ears.</p><p>When Chris told him that he had to leave, with or without him, Isaac had told him to go. Implored him to. He would be fine on his own, he knew he would be. He had a somewhat stable job, a fake ID that let him pass as legally of age, everything he needed to support himself while he was gone. Reluctantly, Chris agreed to leave, promising to come back for him soon. Isaac had seen him off with a smile, biting back tears before returning to the apartment with clenched fists and a loneliness within him that he had hoped he had lost.</p><p>In a fit of anger, he packed all his things; which really wasn't a lot, and did what he did best. He ran. He ran and left behind nothing but a messily scrawled note of half-assed apologies, once again left abandoned. Alone. And this time, no one was coming to save him. Not Derek, not Scott, not Chris…</p><p>No one.</p><p>So yeah, Isaac doesn't believe in soulmates. He didn’t believe in love. He believed that earth is a shitty place full of shitty people, and the only way to get through life on it is by being alone...and he believed in werewolves.</p><p>Because apparently, that was the only part of his life that seemed stable enough to stay.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p>Stiles is a strong believer in the concept of soulmates. Well, maybe not literally, but the idea of love he was definitely behind. </p><p> The way his dad talked about the good days with his mom made him long for that feeling of overwhelming joy that came with being in love. Ever since the third grade when he had fallen in love with Lydia (then fell out of love due to the realization that she was just spoiled and would never even look at him as more than second choice), he had been obsessed with finding that feeling again. He needed to find it again.</p><p>Scott was normally the one who was always ‘in love’. He was never single, he always had a girl on his arm; Always laughing at his bad jokes and sticking to him like glue. Stiles watched girl after girl disappear and reappear next to Scott, and yet, Stiles never had anyone. </p><p>Eventually, the pain of not having love dulled, but it never really went away. Stiles knew that there was someone out there for him; there had to be. He just didn’t know if he would ever find them. But one thing was for certain: he sure as hell was gonna try. </p><p>In the months following the Nogitsune, Stiles had almost begun to believe he had found it. Malia was his everything. His first time, his first love (that was reciprocated, anyway) - she was the one to keep him grounded as he fought the memories and fear that had left it's hold over him, just as he was her anchor in learning control. For once in his life, he felt real love, and he felt it back. He was happier than he had ever been. </p><p>And then, just as swiftly as it had come, it was gone again. Just like that, he was left feeling the same way he had his entire life; alone and unloved. </p><p>When Malia and him broke up, Stiles had sobbed for days. He felt depressed for months, and he didn’t know how to get out of this groove of depression and loneliness. For a while, Stiles had even questioned if love was really real at all. After all, wouldn’t he have found it by now? He was almost eighteen, and he was left with nothing. He felt nothing. Lydia has never loved him, and Malia had left him. Scott didn't trust him<br/>
He was left alone, nobody to help him through the aftermath of his dark nights. No one except himself.</p><p>Maybe soulmates don't exist afterall.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>